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Freya knows giving him another chance could be dangerous. But now he’s the one who needs her, it’s a chance to turn the tables, and to change the outcome of their relationship once and for all. After all, he will only know what she chooses to tell him…

But what really happened during those two years of marriage? And as they start over again, who is safe? And whose life is in danger?

Fans of The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors, and Date Night, who are looking for a dark, gripping psychological suspense novel, will love The Stranger in My Bed.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

‘Determined, not stubborn,’ she corrected lightly. ‘Determined is a good trait; stubborn isn’t always.’

My Review:

This is the type of story that has me wanting the shake sense into the characters and give them a good pinch for being so obtuse they annoy me. The women knew better, yet they still fell repeatedly for the Irish charm. The intriguing storylines were twisty, well-paced, and taut with impending peril, domestic abuse, family drama, lies, betrayals, and secrets aplenty. This was my introduction to Ms. King’s work and I was astounded to see her Goodreads listings packed with multiple genres including children’s books, rom-coms, suspense, poetry, and even some naughty erotica. Oh, my. I do believe further research into this talented scribe is now required.

Karen King is a multi-published bestselling author of fiction for both adults and children. She has also written several short stories for women’s magazines.

Currently published by Bookouture and Headline. Karen has recently signed a two-book deal with Bookouture to write psychological thrillers. The first one will be out in November and the second one in 2021. She is also contracted to write three romance novels for Headline, which will be out in 2021 and 2022

Author Social Media Links

 FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/KarenKingAuthor

TWITTER:   https://twitter.com/karen_king 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Fen shook her head in disbelief. She’d heard of pretty girls turning men’s heads, but this one seemed to have twisted James’s noggin right off.

Her brother had once threatened to throw her over this bridge when she’d naughtily flicked one of his toy soldiers into the Seine. Her claims that the little fellow wanted to be a sub-mariner hadn’t cut the mustard and sibling relations had hit rather a low point.

My Review:

This was a head-scratcher and rollicking good multileveled mystery encompassing several complicated cases involved past participants of the French Resistance, art theft, forgery, and murder in post-war Paris. The highly likable main characters of Fen and her newly acquired friend, James, met the likes of a young Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain, and the already famous Josephine Baker. My poor old coronary muscle squeezed each time the iconic Notre Dame was mentioned. The engaging storylines were enjoyable and poked at my curiosity with tough cases and somewhat undecipherable clues while populated with an oddly unique and generally untrustworthy cast of secondary Gaelic characters. Being a fan of crosswords, I particularly enjoyed Fen’s continued deployment of puzzle strategies in her efforts of working her way through the perplexing crimes.

I garnered a new entry for my Brit Words and Phrases list with “up the spout;” which Mr. Google informed me has two meanings – one being something that was no longer in working order and for a woman – pregnancy. I also learned the clever origin of the term “bangers” for sausages being the high water content used in the meats during the war that caused them to explode or “bang” in the frying pan.

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The young girl pushes against the backseat of the family sedan, fighting to free herself from the crude ties restricting her hands and feet. As the car speeds towards the edge of town, she looks back at her family home, and watches in horror as it is suddenly engulfed in a mass of flames. Trembling with fear, she turns towards the driver and hears only laughter. She knows that the worst is yet to come…

Detective Jenna Alton surveys the charred remains of the large suburban home, stopping to pause at the three lifeless bodies of the Woods family. Jenna knows she’s looking for a serial killer, but her priority is finding the missing teenage daughter last seen on the night of the inferno.

Days later, Sophie Wood’s body is discovered floating in a shallow pool of crystal-clear water—known locally as Dead Man’s Drop—but Jenna still doesn’t know who would target the quiet family in such a brutal attack.

Delving into the family’s past, she makes a shocking discovery—a link between the killer and someone connected to her deputy David Kane. If Jenna is right and the killer is back and seeking revenge, then she must act fast to keep her deputy safe.

When another girl is taken, Jenna and David follow the trail into a network of underground caves on the outskirts of town. With little time before the killer claims his next victim, they race into the pitch-black tunnels, unsure whether they have just walked into the killer’s trap. Can they find the girl in time and escape the caves without the killer chasing them down?

If you like pulse-racing thrillers from Lisa Regan, Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot, you will love this gripping new book from USA Today bestselling author D.K. Hood.

**Each Kane and Alton book can be read as part of the series or as a standalone**

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

There was something about Aunt Betty’s Café that soothed even the roughest day, like sitting in your grandma’s kitchen and waiting for the cookies to come out the oven.

My Review:

I am seriously slacking and horribly uninformed as this was book #10 in a series and my first time picking up one of D.K. Hood’s eleven books. It was a nonstop whirligig of high voltage action and the author’s writing slotted me right in the midst of it. I am exhausted and feel like I’ve been in a marathon while digging through ashes, performing autopsies, climbing mountains, jumping out of helicopters, dodging bullets, skidding on ice, crawling through spooky caves, and running after dogs while chasing an elusive psychopath arsonist who was also a murdering rapist. Unholy smokes, he was definitely a multitasking fiend, yet he still had time and energy to compose blog posts which were brilliant in their double meanings. Despite his unethical and disturbing proclivities, I had to stop to admire his wry phrasing as well as his devotion to his work ethic.

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From the author of A Lily in the Light comes a poignant story of innocence lost and what it means to grow up too fast.

It’s 1965, and thirteen-year-old Gia, along with her older brother and cousins, is desperate to escape their sleepy, tree-lined neighborhood where nothing ever happens. The only thing Gia would miss is the surrounding marsh, where she feels at home among sea birds and saltwater.

But when one of Gia’s cousins brings drugs into their neighborhood, it sets off a chain of events that quickly turn dangerous. Everyone will be caught in the ripples, and some may be swept away entirely. Gia is determined to keep herself and her family afloat while the world is turned upside down around her. Can she find a way to hold on to the life she was so eager to leave behind, or will she have to watch it all disappear beneath the marsh forever?

At turns heart-wrenching and hopeful, A Frenzy of Sparks explores a world where survival is the attempt to move forward while leaving pieces of your heart behind.

“A deeply atmospheric novel that will have you turning the pages deep into the night, A Frenzy of Sparks is your next must-read.” —Catherine McKenzie, bestselling author of Hidden and I’ll Never Tell

“A provocative coming-of-age in 1960s Queens. Heart-wrenching and moving, A Frenzy of Sparks boldly reveals families in crisis, brought together and torn apart. Brava Kristin Fields on a lyrical, luminous tale that sticks with the reader long after the last page.” —Rochelle Weinstein, bestselling author of This Is Not How It Ends

“A Frenzy of Sparks tells the heartbreaking truth about how quickly addiction can destroy a family and a community. Fields has a beautiful ability to shape words such that the ordinary becomes extraordinary.” —Kaela Coble, author of Friends and Other Liars

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She had the same wiry build as Leo, the same blue eyes and slightly disheveled look, as if the wind had blown them around for a few minutes and suddenly stopped.

Window light turned dust suspended in the air to gold, making Gia almost pretty in the mirror, not movie-star pretty, but more like a mer-creature who’d surfaced to see what land was all about. She hadn’t quite grown into her nose or gotten past her fear of tweezers to fix her eyebrows, but her features were sharp and symmetrical.

“Is he sick?” Agnes scrunched her forehead. It was unusual for Leo to be home, grounded or not. Yes, Gia thought. He has an incurable case of the idiots.

The girl was chewing gum, cracking it loudly, blowing bubbles, and swallowing them back like a lizard rolling out its tongue. She was a hostess at the clam bar with Ray and liked to flirt with him even though she had more pimples than a toad, but she curled her hair and rolled a tube over her lips until they were mirror shiny. Alessandra. Gia wondered if Agnes would prefer a daughter like her instead.

“Just tell him your blood sugar’s low or you’re feeling faint. He’s too scared of women’s bodies to call you on it,” Lorraine said between bites of a fresh chocolate éclair…

My Review:

Kristin Fields hit me soundly in the feels and wrote with an astounding poignancy that put hot rocks in my throat, pressure in my chest, and sand in my eyes. She scribbled with the articulateness of a gifted wordsmith while she insightfully and perceptively imbued her cast of characters with unusual quirks and sharp edges, and detailed them with crystal clarity. She fully captured their foibles as well as the miasma of complex family personalities, unmerited favoritism, and the issues of dealing with addiction in a family member along with the accompanying complications of enabling, blind denial, and general chaos.

I was staggered by the precision and depth in which Ms. Fields molded and sufficed Gia with relatable and accessible impatience, yearning for independence, and the heightened desire for personal choices from those forced upon her by family circumstances. Gia was a thirteen-year-old tomboy who was chaffing at the constant criticism and expectations of her mother to be feminine while actively forcing her towards domestic pursuits. Gia had no interest in her mother’s womanly pursuits or indoctrination as she was interested in the environment, wanted to be outside swimming and boating, and aspired to be a scientist.

Ms. Field’s prose ingeniously inserted me into the gray matter of a sensitive thirteen-year-old who despite her naive and skewed perceptions, still saw far more clearly, realistically, and objectively than her parents. I was deeply stirred by the experiences of Gia which conjured similar feelings long buried in my own psyche of a pervasive sense of powerlessness against the rigid constraints of the strict and unquestionable expectations of gender roles and the forced adherence of odd and nonsensical beliefs as well as the resentment of undeserved male arrogance and the mindlessness of automatic female deference. And from this, a kickass feminist was born.

I was a small child in the ’60s and came of age in the ’70s and do not look back on that period with fondness.   Nor would I live through those turbulent eras again for a billion dollars. While Kristin Fields is far too young to have personally experienced those tumultuous decades, her narrative and characters’ observations, behaviors, frustrations, mindsets, and the limitations of societal roles were astoundingly authentic to the times. Color me impressed but now in need of a spa day and a vat of wine to clear all this long-repressed antipathy.